Bible

 

Zechariah 4

Studie

   

1 And the messenger who is speaking with me doth turn back, and stir me up as one who is stirred up out of his sleep,

2 and he saith unto me, `What art thou seeing?' And I say, `I have looked, and lo, a candlestick of gold -- all of it, and its bowl [is] on its top, and its seven lamps [are] upon it, and twice seven pipes [are] to the lights that [are] on its top,

3 and two olive-trees [are] by it, one on the right of the bowl, and one on its left.'

4 And I answer and speak unto the messenger who is speaking with me, saying, `What [are] these, my lord?'

5 And the messenger who is speaking with me answereth and saith unto me, `Hast thou not known what these [are]?' And I say, `No, my lord.'

6 And he answereth and speaketh unto me, saying: `This [is] a word of Jehovah unto Zerubbabel, saying: Not by a force, nor by power, But -- by My Spirit, said Jehovah of Hosts.

7 Who [art] thou, O great mountain Before Zerubbabel -- for a plain! And he hath brought forth the top-stone, Cries of Grace, grace -- [are] to it.'

8 And there is a word of Jehovah to me, saying,

9 Hands of Zerubbabel did found this house, And his Hands do finish it, And thou hast known that Jehovah of Hosts Hath sent me unto you.

10 For who trampled on the day of small things, They have rejoiced, And seen the tin weight in the hand of Zerubbabel, These seven [are] the eyes of Jehovah, They are going to and fro in all the land.'

11 And I answer and say unto him, `What [are] these two olive-trees, on the right of the candlestick, and on its left?'

12 And I answer a second time, and say unto him, `What [are] the two branches of the olive trees that, by means of the two golden pipes, are emptying out of themselves the oil?'

13 And he speaketh unto me, saying, `Hast thou not known what these [are]?' And I say, `No, my lord.'

14 And he saith, `These [are] the two sons of the oil, who are standing by the Lord of the whole earth.'

   

Ze Swedenborgových děl

 

True Christian Religion # 157

Prostudujte si tuto pasáž

  
/ 853  
  

157. Since a person's spirit means his mind, 'being in the spirit', a phrase which occurs a number of times in the Word, means the state in which the mind is separated from the body. That was the state the Prophets were in when they saw the kind of things which happen in the spiritual world, so it is called 'the vision of God.' They were then in the same state as that of the spirits and angels of that world. In that state a person's spirit, as the visual capacity of his mind, can be transported from place to place while his body remains in one place. This is the state in which I have been for the last twenty-six years, with the difference that I have been simultaneously in the spirit and in the body, and only at times outside the body. Ezekiel, Zechariah, Daniel and John the writer of Revelation were evident from the following passages.

Ezekiel says: 'A spirit lifted me up, and brought me back to Chaldaea to the captives in a vision, in the spirit of God; so the vision which I had seen went up from me' (Ezekiel 11:1, 24). A spirit lifted him up and he heard behind him an earthquake (Ezekiel 3:12, 14). A spirit lifted him up between earth and heaven, and carried him off to Jerusalem, and he saw abominations (Ezekiel 8:3ff). He saw four creatures, which were Cherubim, and various sights with them (Ezek. chapters 1, 10); also a new earth and a new temple, and an angel measuring them (Ezek. chapters 40-48). He was then in receipt of a vision and in the spirit (Ezekiel 40:2; 13:5).

[2] Similar things happened to Zechariah, when he was with an angel and saw a man riding a horse among myrtles (Zechariah 1:8ff); four horns [Zechariah 1:18] and a man with a measuring line in his hand (Zechariah 2:1, 5ff); Joshua the high priest (Zechariah 3:1ff); four chariots coming out between two mountains, and their horses (Zechariah 6:1ff). Daniel was in the same state when he saw four beasts coming up out of the sea and various other details about them (Daniel 7:1ff); the fights between a ram and a he-goat (Daniel 8:1ff). He saw these things in a vision (Daniel 7:1-2, 7, 13; 8:2; 10:1, 7-8); the angel Gabriel appeared to him in a vision and spoke with him (Daniel 9:21).

[3] It was the same with John when he wrote Revelation. He says that he was in the spirit on the Lord's day (Revelation 1:10); that he was carried in the spirit into the desert (Revelation 17:3); onto a high mountain in the spirit (Revelation 21:10); that he saw [horses] in a vision (Revelation 9:17). Elsewhere he says that he saw what he described, as for instance the Son of Man in the midst of the seven lampstands; a tabernacle, a temple, an ark and an altar in heaven; a book sealed with seven seals, and horses that came out of it; four creatures around the throne; twelve thousand chosen from each tribe; then the Lamb upon Mount Zion; locusts coming up from the abyss; the dragon and his battle with Michael; a woman bearing a son, and fleeing into the desert because of the dragon; two beasts, one coming up from the sea, the other from the earth; a woman sitting on a scarlet beast; the dragon cast out into a lake of fire and brimstone; a white horse and a great banquet; the Holy City of Jerusalem coming down, with a description of its gates, wall and the foundations of the wall; a river of living water, and trees of life which bear fruit in every month; and much else besides. Peter, James and John were in a similar state when they saw Jesus transfigured; and so was Paul when he heard from heaven things past telling.

  
/ 853  
  

Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.